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RHP Brandon Morrow, who has been on the disabled list since June 12 with a left oblique strain, threw three scoreless innings on Sunday night for the class-A Dunedin Blue Jays in is first rehab assignment.

In his three innings, Morrow allowed three singles, walked one and struck out two.

Morrow is expected to make two more appearances with Dunedin before moving up to double-A New Hampshire where he will make two appearances and run his pitch count up to 85 before rejoining the Blue Jays.

“He was originally scheduled to throw two innings but he threw four pitches in the first, 11 in the second and he felt fine,” manager John Farrell reported. “In the second inning he was up to 95 (miles per hour). That number in itself indicates there is some confidence in the way he was going about his intensity. He finished up with 26 pitches. It was very successful day in the first time back on the mound for Brandon.”

COOPER RETURNS

With Adam Lind on the DL, the Jays recalled first baseman David Cooper from triple-A Las Vegas. In an earlier stint with the Jays this season, Cooper hit .292 in 24 games with two homers and six RBIs. He was not in the starting lineup in the opening game against the Mariners.

“He’ll DH, he’ll play some first base, he’ll be a bat off the bench for us and we’ll get a little bit of a rotation going but with the way Edwin’s been playing first base, Edwin’s locked down that position,” Farrell said. “David, with each time he’s been called up, he’s certainly showed more comfort at the major league level. He’s performed more consistently. He’s not coming up here to sit.”

BAUTISTA IMPROVING

Jose Bautista is eligible to come off the disabled list on Wednesday but don’t expect him to be back in the lineup just then. The right fielder is making excellent progress with his injured left wrist but still has a ways to go.

“Today was a good day,” Farrell said. “He took dry swings (just swinging) with a fungo, dry swings with a regular bat. He hit off the tee with a fungo, hit off the tee with a regular bat, took some front toss. He feels improved over yesterday (Sunday). We’re looking at 70 swings with the front toss.”

Eventually he’ll graduate to swinging in the cage, then batting practice and perhaps a short rehab assignment.

“We’ll look to repeat today’s steps tomorrow,” Farrell said. “He’ll get into BP in the cage first before we get him on the field and face live pitching. The one real read we’ll get on him is when we start throwing some balls in on him where he’s got to pull his hands in. We’ve got to insure that every way he has to manipulate the bat there are no recurring symptoms.”